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by RosieClark



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, Love Confessions, Period Piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22725172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosieClark/pseuds/RosieClark
Summary: She hears him but cannot see him, the rain and fog obstructing her vision. She uses a hand to push her soaked bangs up on her forehead and squints her eyes.There. Running over the hill.Lance.
Relationships: Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 12
Kudos: 29





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**Author's Note:**

> happy love day to those celebrating! 
> 
> i stumbled across a post with a beautiful traditional celtic marriage vow, and was inspired to write something. here, have a pride and prejudice/celtic marriage vows/angsty place piece for y'all. 
> 
> -rosie

The rain pelts down on her, soaking her to the bone, but she doesn't care. She barely feels the chill of the wind anymore. Her mind continues to replay the moment she realized he wasn’t on the boat with the other men, the moment she realized he wasn’t returning to her. It pains her heart to relive it, but she can’t stop, as if by replaying it enough, she’d be able to change his fate. Logically, she knows that will never work, but that doesn't make it hurt any less.

She had woken up this morning excited to finally see him again, and had joined the throngs of women awaiting their husbands and promised on the docks. The ships had arrived, and she had waited as the women around her left in the arms of their men, and hers was still nowhere in sight. A sailor had asked her if she was alright, but they both knew she was far from it.

She hadn't even bothered to go back to the house, not wanting to get bombarded with questions from her parents, and instead had taken off straight for the hills. She is still in her good dress, the flowy blue one he liked so much.

Her dress is ruined by now, the hem run down with mud and the blue fabric darkened by the rain and clinging to her body like a second skin. It does not matter to her, for the one she wore it for would never get a chance to see it again.

Her one regret in this experience was that she had gotten her hopes up that he would walk off that boat. Hope is a dangerous parasite that grew and grew until she thought she knew for a fact that he was going to come home. All it did was make the fact that he didn't so much harder to bare.

The rain only pelts down harder, running down her face like tears. Her legs were aching, her entire body yelling at her to go back, but she just grit her teeth and pushes forward. If she gets sick, she gets sick. She will get better. But no amount of medicine could bring back the dead. He was lost forever. 

Hiking up her skirts, she continues her trek across the moors, to their place, the one she’d been frequenting often as she awaited his return. She doesn't know why she comes here, when all it will do is bring back memories of the past; him tucking a flower behind her ear, them lying in the sun together, their first kiss, but she doesn't turn around. She sits, her back to the tall oak, and closes her eyes.

_ “Don’t, please,” she tries again, grabbing at his shirt. Her voice betrays the desperation she was feeling, but if he detects it, he makes no sign. “They’re sending you to your deaths!” _

_ In the soft candle light, their shadows look like monsters, coming to take their souls. _

_ “I’m sorry,” is his only reply, shoving clothes into his rucksack. “But I can’t disobey orders.” _

_ “Lance.” her voice comes out stronger than she felt. “I know I have no right to ask this of you, but please, stay.” _

_ His lips are on hers, and her hands make their way up to run through his hair. When he pulls away, the look on her face makes her want to curl up and sob. One of the reasons she loves him is his sense of honor, but right now she hates him for it. _

_ “I’m sorry Katie, I have to go.” He stops, turning back. "It's my duty." _

_ But I love you, she wants to cry. I love you and want you to stay. _

_ But she doesn't and adds it to the list of things he might never know about her; how her middle name is Marie, how she doesn't like jam on its own, but on bread it's fantastic, how he is in complete and utter control of her heart. _

_ He has her wrapped around his finger and doesn't even know it. _

_ Instead, she watches as he strides to the door, flinging it open. “Promise you’ll come back to me?” she blurts out before she can think. “Promise me.” It was more of a plea than a request. _

_ Her heart sinks when he just shakes his head and leaves, the door closing behind him leaving her in a terrifying silence. She manages three whole breaths before she begins to scream. _

She wants to scream now, wants to scream into the storm for everything this cruel war has taken from her; her brother, her home, and now her--

What exactly had he been to her? Her lover? No, he was far more than that. Her husband? They had never married. Her suitor? She wasn’t sure if what they’d been doing counted as courting, not with all the banter and secrets.

But he had been someone special to her, someone she loves--had loved. She doubts anyone would be able to fill the whole he left in her heart.

Carefully she stands, clutching at the base of the tree like a lifeline, the only thing keeping her from collapsing into a mess. The rain is so loud in her ears, she thinks she’s hallucinated it, but then it comes again, faint, but growing stronger with each call.

“Katie!” she whirls around at a voice,  _ his _ voice. “Katie!”

She hears him but cannot see him, the rain and fog obstructing her vision. She uses a hand to push her soaked bangs up on her forehead and squints her eyes.

There. Running over the hill.

_ Lance _ .

He was wet, and dirty and looked like a drowned rat, but he was here, breathing and  _ alive _ .

A sob claws its way out of her throat and her legs give out, sending her crashing to the ground. But she never hits it, because Lance is there to catch her.

She stares into his blue eyes for the first time in months and begins to weep, her fists clutching his shirt, his strong arms wrapped around her.

“Shh, my love,” he speaks into her hair. “I’m here.”

Finally, she calms down enough to speak. “When you didn’t arrive with the others, I feared the worst,” her eyes meet his again. “Why didn’t you arrive with the others?”

“Ah, right.” One of his hands comes to sheepishly rub the back of his neck, a gesture she hadn’t realized she’d missed. “I was getting this.”

Gently, he stands, placing her on the ground, before digging through his rucksack. When he finds what he is looking for, he gets on one knee, the silver ring in his hand. “Katie, you--”

But she was already nodding, new tears springing from her eyes. “Yes, a thousand times yes,” she whispered, before bringing him up for a kiss. He slides the ring onto her finger--a delicate band adorned with tiny flowers--and cups her hands in his, staring deeply into her soul.

“You didn’t let me finish,” he says through his smile. “Let me speak--”

“You don’t have to.” The rain has stopped, the sun just starting to peak from behind the clouds. “I love you Lance, and that will never change.”

“I know love, but I want to finish.” He kisses her on the forehead lightly. “Let me tell you how I feel about you.”

She nods, bringing a hand out of his to caress his cheek. “Okay.”

He leans into her touch, closing his eyes. When he opens them again, the raw emotion had her rooted to the ground. “Leaving you was the hardest thing I’d ever done. When I was fighting, the only thing that kept me going was the thought of seeing you--I had to see you again. Not only to see your brilliant intelligent eyes and your beautiful smile but to tell you these things.” Her heart feels like its about to burst and Lance’s gaze is unwavering and intense, making her toes curl in her boots. "I love you. You cannot possess me for I belong to myself, but while we both wish it, I give you that which is mine to give. You cannot command me, for I am a free person, but I shall see you in those ways you require and the honeycomb will taste sweeter coming from my hand. I vow to you the first cut of my meat, the first sip of my wine, from this day it shall only your name I cry out in the night and into your eyes that I smile each morning. I shall be a shield for you back as you are for mine, my beloved. Our marriage will be sacred between us for no stranger shall hear my grievance. Above and beyond this, I will cherish and honor you through this life, and into the next. This is my vow to you, Katrina, for as long as I live, I will love you fiercely, and fully, will all my heart.”

“And I you,” her voice gives out on the last word. "I'm sorry that I never told you sooner, but I was so afraid of being rejected. I should have--" he silences her apology with a kiss.

"There is nothing to be sorry for my love, for nothing you could have done would have changed how I feel about you. If you told me you loved me sooner, it might have taken the nerves away from proposing, but I still proposed, and you still said yes," he adds with a wink, causing her to snort with laughter.

"That I did." her smile only grows.

He cocks a brow and looks down at her, a smirk forming on his lips. "And, might I add, you said yes before I even proposed. Am I just that irresistible?"

Her face flushes, and tries to hide in his shirt, but he is having none of it, laughing at her bashfulness. "Just shut up and kiss me," she demands.

"As you wish my love," his eyes are full of mirth, sparking with youthful joy and she hopes every day will be like this for them, before her mind is overtaken by his lips on hers.

She does not know how long they stand there, hands intertwined, lips touching, before Lance pulls away and scoops her into his arms. She lets out a cry of protest, but he insists on carrying her all the way back to the cottage, that his future wife deserves nothing but the best.

Hearing the term 'wife' come from his lips sends a shiver of excitement down her spine.

The sun warms her exposed forearms and neck quickly, and she buries her face in his chest to avoid getting burnt. She feels his chuckle rumble through his chest, like the purring of a cat, and smiles softly to herself.

And as she is carried away, his strong arms wrapped lovingly around her, she realizes just what he is to her. Not a lover or a suitor or a husband, at least not  _ yet _ , but something much more than those things. He holds her heart in his hand, and she his, he is the sun to her moon, her other half, her  _ soulmate _ , and she would never again take that for granted.

For regardless of where she is in this lifetime of the next, as long as he is by her side, she is home.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> comments/suggestions/questions are always welcome! i love to hear what y'all thought


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